Reverend Billy's "Weed and Seed," New York City, Jan. 26, 2005
CadmusOnez writes:
"Weed and Seed The Village"
New York City, Jan. 26, 2005
Reverend Billy and the Stop Shopping Gospel Choir
St. Mark's Church in the Bowery
January 26 2005 8:00pm
$10 (no-one turned away), 10th St and 2nd Ave
contact info: Michael ONeil
917-825-3562
bulletin@revbilly.com
Radical Reverend Sows Seeds For Future of Public Space
A city like New York should treasure every inch of greenery, but "developers" constantly harass community gardeners and City Hall provides no defense. Reverend Billy, the Obie Award winning founder of the Church of Stop Shopping, will dedicate his January 26, 2005 performance at St. Mark's Church in the Bowery to supporting these holy horticulturalists and their preservation of public space. "Community gardens are the canary in a coal mine for civic space in New York" warns Bill Talen, aka Reverend Billy.
The Church's "Weed and Seed the Village" revival show will honor two garden projects with gospel music and blazing sermons. Talen calls the Liz Christy green space at Houston Street and Bowery "The Mother of All Community Gardens." The Esperanza Garden served neighborhood needs in the Lower East Side for generations, until the Giuliani administration militaristically bulldozed it five years ago. Careless contractors currently threaten the Liz Christy landscape, as new structures ravage the trees' root systems and blot out sunlight. The issue relates to all battles for public space.
"When Giuliani assembled 500 police officers to take over Esperanza Garden for one of his campaign contributors" Talen recalls, "he created scores of neighborhood-defense groups that day." The Church of Stop Shopping's monthly performances aim to rally New Yorkers and reclaim their public spaces.
"Neighborhood groups must act in concert to save our city" says one Church supporter. "Mayor Bloomberg attacks community centers and schills for Wal-Mart. Only a madman would turn The Big Apple into a suburb."
Previous Church of Stop Shopping campaigns include preserving the house where Edgar Alan Poe wrote "The Raven" and staging weekly "First Amendment Mobs" at Ground Zero. The First Amendment theater appeared on the CBS Evening News, in the Village Voice and French National Television. Reverend Billy's work exorcising Starbucks stores and Wal-Marts throughout California was the subject of an August New York Times Sunday Magazine feature, and after touring Europe the Reverend and Stop Shopping Gospel Choir recorded an album with Tomato Records, to be released in February.
Weed and Seed The Village
Reverend Billy and the Stop Shopping Gospel Choir
St. Mark's Church in the Bowery
January 26 2005 8:00pm
$10 (no-one turned away), 10th St and 2nd Ave
contact info: Michael ONeil | 917-825-3562
bulletin@revbilly.com
CadmusOnez writes:
"Weed and Seed The Village"
New York City, Jan. 26, 2005
Reverend Billy and the Stop Shopping Gospel Choir
St. Mark's Church in the Bowery
January 26 2005 8:00pm
$10 (no-one turned away), 10th St and 2nd Ave
contact info: Michael ONeil
917-825-3562
bulletin@revbilly.com
Radical Reverend Sows Seeds For Future of Public Space
A city like New York should treasure every inch of greenery, but "developers" constantly harass community gardeners and City Hall provides no defense. Reverend Billy, the Obie Award winning founder of the Church of Stop Shopping, will dedicate his January 26, 2005 performance at St. Mark's Church in the Bowery to supporting these holy horticulturalists and their preservation of public space. "Community gardens are the canary in a coal mine for civic space in New York" warns Bill Talen, aka Reverend Billy.
The Church's "Weed and Seed the Village" revival show will honor two garden projects with gospel music and blazing sermons. Talen calls the Liz Christy green space at Houston Street and Bowery "The Mother of All Community Gardens." The Esperanza Garden served neighborhood needs in the Lower East Side for generations, until the Giuliani administration militaristically bulldozed it five years ago. Careless contractors currently threaten the Liz Christy landscape, as new structures ravage the trees' root systems and blot out sunlight. The issue relates to all battles for public space.
"When Giuliani assembled 500 police officers to take over Esperanza Garden for one of his campaign contributors" Talen recalls, "he created scores of neighborhood-defense groups that day." The Church of Stop Shopping's monthly performances aim to rally New Yorkers and reclaim their public spaces.
"Neighborhood groups must act in concert to save our city" says one Church supporter. "Mayor Bloomberg attacks community centers and schills for Wal-Mart. Only a madman would turn The Big Apple into a suburb."
Previous Church of Stop Shopping campaigns include preserving the house where Edgar Alan Poe wrote "The Raven" and staging weekly "First Amendment Mobs" at Ground Zero. The First Amendment theater appeared on the CBS Evening News, in the Village Voice and French National Television. Reverend Billy's work exorcising Starbucks stores and Wal-Marts throughout California was the subject of an August New York Times Sunday Magazine feature, and after touring Europe the Reverend and Stop Shopping Gospel Choir recorded an album with Tomato Records, to be released in February.
Weed and Seed The Village
Reverend Billy and the Stop Shopping Gospel Choir
St. Mark's Church in the Bowery
January 26 2005 8:00pm
$10 (no-one turned away), 10th St and 2nd Ave
contact info: Michael ONeil | 917-825-3562
bulletin@revbilly.com